Letters to the editor
Blame Clinton, not Republicans
I'm not sure I necessarily agree with your conclusion that using information
technology won't help reduce the size of government, but this is not the
reason I'm writing this letter ["IT and politics a bad mix," FCW, May 1].
Where I differ strongly with you is your assertion the Republicans in Congress
allowed the government to be shut down during the mid-1990s when in fact
Congress had appropriated the funding for the government to operate in the
new fiscal year. It was President Clinton who vetoed the appropriation forcing
the shutdown of most of the government. Those portions of the government
with leftover no-year funds were still able to function as long as those
funds hadn't been used up.
If you will recall, there was a similar battle in the early 1980s between
Congress and President Reagan. Congress appropriated funds for the new year,
and Reagan vetoed the bills causing a similar, albeit very brief, government
shutdown. The president was vilified by the media. In the 1990s, Clinton
does the same thing, yet Congress, especially the Republicans, get vilified.
Sorry children, you can't have it both ways. This is nothing short of blatant
bias by the press and media, including the FCW editorial staff, and a very
disingenuous bias at that. In both cases, the president deliberately chose
to "turn off the spigot," and the president, not Congress, whether in whole
or in part, should take the heat for shutting down the government.
Darryl Depew
Energy Department
Las Vegas, Nev.